The More Things Change
by Patruelis Omnis
Summary: The ARC team gets a slightly different start in this universe. Things starts the same, then history starts to take a different course. AU, with a later canon crossover in the sequel.
1. Prequel 1: Field Trip

**Prequel 1: Field Trip**

* * *

_The Forest of Dean, 1999_

Helen Cutter came to the spot where she's seen the anomaly. She wished that Nick hadn't been so opinionated. She'd always thought her husband was a clever man, but he refused to believe her theories.

Except they weren't just theories 'd been through the anomaly before, just briefly. But she wanted to go back, and find something to prove to Nick that her theories weren't impossible.

She'd been waiting a while, and had started to doze off, when the anomaly opened. Instead of going through right away like she'd planned, she waited. She had hoped that Nick would come around and drive to the forest of dean to meet her.

She waited for the anomaly started getting weaker, Helen started wondering if it was better to stay there and wait for the anomaly to open again, or go through now and risk being stuck in the permian.

_Science isn't written by cowards, _she thought, and went through the anomaly.

...

The anomaly reopened later that night, Helen came through it, tired and dirty, but alive. She walked off in search of a phone. In the darkness behind her, she heard something moving. She ran.

A gorgonopsid started chasing her. She came to a car park and a bunch of shops. She ran up to one and pounded on the glass.

"Please!" She looked behind her. She couldn't see the gorgonopsid, but she knew it was still hunting her. "Let me in!"

She heard the creature knocking thing out of it's way to get to her. She dashed across the parking lot and jumped inside a bin to try to hide from the monster. It smelled all around the bin before it knocked it over.

Helen crawled out and ran back towards the anomaly. She thought that she could lead it back to the anomaly and somehow trap it where it belongs.

She ran through the forest, to the anomaly. Helen took off her knapsack and tried to through it at the gorganopsid trying to slow it down. She made it to the anomaly and went through, the gorgonopsid close behind.

She barely made it to a place she could hide. The gorgonopsid hung around for a long time. Helen stayed hidden for a long time after that. Finally she moved from her hiding spot and tried to go back through the anomaly.

But it was gone.


	2. Prequel 2: Amazon

**Prequel 3: Funding**

* * *

_Wellington Zoo, 2007_

A blonde zoologist sat in a lizard cage, watching the zoos' newest additions, two Philippine Sailfin lizards, not mate.

"What do you need?" She asked. "Mood lighting, a Frank Sinatra record?"

Her boss walked up to the outside of the cage. "How are Brad and Angelina?" He asked.

"Totally gay," Abby answered. "But otherwise fine."

"Can I have a word, please?"

Abby had an idea what he wanted to talk about. She heard that the zoo's funding might be cut, and the lizard program might by one of the things to go first. She got out of the cage.

"Some of the zoo's funding has been cut. And I've been asked to slim down some of the projects."

Abby looked away. "And my job comes under the heading of instant weight loss, right?"

"Actually, no." He said. "We decided to slim down the bug house, and one of the people there is transferring to the lizard house. Being our resident expert, I was wondering if you might be able to help train them."

Abby nodded, grateful that she wouldn't have to search for a new job.


	3. Prequel 3: Funding

**Prequel 3: Funding**

* * *

_Wellington Zoo, 2007_

A blonde zoologist sat in a lizard cage, watching the zoos' newest additions, two Philippine Sailfin lizards, not mate.

"What do you need?" She asked. "Mood lighting, a Frank Sinatra record?"

Her boss walked up to the outside of the cage. "How are Brad and Angelina?" He asked.

"Totally gay," Abby answered. "But otherwise fine."

"Can I have a word, please?"

Abby had an idea what he wanted to talk about. She heard that the zoo's funding might be cut, and the lizard program might by one of the things to go first. She got out of the cage.

"Some of the zoo's funding has been cut. And I've been asked to slim down some of the projects."

Abby looked away. "And my job comes under the heading of instant weight loss, right?"

"Actually, no." He said. "We decided to slim down the bug house, and one of the people there is transferring to the lizard house. Being our resident expert, I was wondering if you might be able to help train them."

Abby nodded, grateful that she wouldn't have to search for a new job.


	4. Chapter 1: Hoax?

_**Chapter 1: Hoax?**_

* * *

_Central Metropolitan University Campus, 2007_

Madge left another college lecture, which she had spent more time paying more attention to the other students than the teacher. The only other lecture she had that day was evolutionary zoology later that morning, then she was home free.

She sat in the middle of the plaza and was working on her laptop, when she got an email from a friend. It contained a link to a newspaper article about a hoax. As she read the article, she became more and more intrigued. It was sounding less like a hoax, and more like an actual animal attack, but not an animal attack like anybody had seen before.

She looked to see if there was enough time to catch Professor Cutter before he gave his lecture. Barely, she thought, and hastily put away her laptop, and raced across the campus.

Professor Cutter was walking back to his lab with his lab technician Connor Temple. Madge ran faster to catch up with them.

"Professor Cutter!" She shouted.

Cutter paused and turned around. "You're a little early for the lecture, Miss Francis." He kept walking toward his lab.

"I know. But I wanted to show you something." She said, and fell in step behind the them. When they reached the lab, Madge got out her laptop and brought up the news article. "I wanted you to see… this." She handed him the laptop around so that he could read the headline.

"An internet hoax?" Cutter said. Connor came over and took the laptop from Cutter and started read ing the article for himself.

"I think there might be something to it." Madge continued. "You're the one who's always saying that you're interested in the pieces that don't fit. Well, this is a piece that doesn't fit."

"I know that there are things we can't always explain." Cutter said. "But I just don't think that there's a monster out there that goes around attacking people."

"It attacked a truck." Madge said. "It hasn't attacked anybody yet."

"If there is something out there, the police will find it." Cutter said.

"But they would know what to look for. They're looking for a person, not a creature."

"If there's something out there," Cutter repeated. "The police will find it."

Madge seemed to accept this. "You're probably right, Professor."

Cutter nodded. "Good. I'll see you at the lecture, Madge."

Madge took her laptop back from Connor and left.

After a few minutes Connor spoke up. "Do you think that there really is something out there?"

"Frankly I doubt it." Cutter said. "But there's more to this planet than meet the eye. There could be something about to it. If there is, I'm sure we'll read about it." Cutter paused, then asked, "Why?"

Connor shook his head. "No reason, just… the attack took place near the forest of dean."

Cutter froze. "The Forest of Dean?" he asked.

Connor checked the clock. "If we hurry, we could get there by half noon."

...

_The Forest of Dean  
_

Cutter and Connor were looking at the truck that had supposedly been attacked.

"It's definitely something." Cutter said. Connor went around to the other side of the truck.

"Cutter," he said. "You need to see this."

Cutter followed him and saw what he was looking at. "Now what kind of creature could do that?"

"Only one way to find out, Professor."

...

_Elsewhere in the Forest of Dean_

Madge was walking through the forest, looking for clues. She didn't listen to Cutter when he'd said that there probably wasn't anything, and decided to come take a look for herself. And so had her friend.

"Madge!" He called. "Madge, I can't keep up with you. My allergies are acting up."

"We're not in a hurry." She told him. "Don't you have allergy medication or something?"

"I already took it. I don't think it's working. I have to go back."

"Okay them. I'll drop by later."

"You're not coming with me?"

"I need to know if there's something out here. I'll catch up." Madge continued on her own for a while. She could find nothing that proved that this "animal attack" was nothing more than a hoax.

I guess Cutter was right. Madge thought, and decided to head back. She looked around, and realized that she was lost.

"Oh, great." She said aloud. She tried to take a moment to get her bearings. An owl hooted and she jump. She took a deep breath to calm down.

"It's okay, Maggie Jo. It's just an owl. You're not in the beginning of a horror film." Madge started walking back the way she thought she came. A dark object up in a tree caught her attention. She froze monetarily, then, realizing that whatever it was, it wasn't moving. She walked closer to look at it.

It was a cow. A dead cow. Stowed away in a tree for later.

Madge started running away. She didn't care where she went as long as she could get out of the forest. Because whatever had killed that cow was probably still there. But Madge didn't see the creature in the forest ahead of her, until she came right up against it.


	5. Chapter 2: Incursion

**Chapter 2: Incursion**

* * *

_The Forest of Dean, 2007_

It turned toward her, and she stopped in her tracks. Something moved, breaking twigs. Someone flashed a light in her face. She shielded her eyes.

"Madge?" Cutter asked. He was accompanied by Connor, and a woman Madge didn't know.

"Professor Cutter? What are you doing here?"

"Well, it seems your theory isn't so crazy after all." Cutter said.

They turned their attention back to the large creature standing in front of them.

"What is it?" she asked. "Is it dangerous?"

"I don't think so." He started walking around the grazing animal. "It's a reptile, five or six tons at least. It must be some kind of anapsid."

Madge tried to remember what kind of creature anapsids were. "That a… a tortoise."

"That doesn't look like any kind of tortoise I've ever seen." The woman said.

Madge snapped a picture of it on her phone, and the creature jumped back a little and growled.

The woman took the phone away from Madge. "Whatever this is, it's classified until I figure out what the hell to do about it."

"And they say I'm paranoid." Madge mumbled under her breath. "Cutter, something got killed. It was up in a tree…"

"Yeah, we saw it too." Cutter said.

The woman looked at the massive animal. "Could this… thing have killed whatever we saw back there?"

"No." Connor spoke up. "It couldn't be this creature."

The woman looked at the creature. "How can you be sure?"

"It's a herbivore." Madge said. "It might be able to trample something to death, but so can an elephant."

Cutter agreed. "There's something else out there."

...

_Permian era, 230 to 280 million years ago_

Helen Cutter moved quietly. She was deep in the heart on a female gorgonopsid's territory (who she had named April), and they were incredibly defensive creatures. Intellectually, Helen knew that April was just doing what her instincts told her to do, but in her heart, Helen thought that April was the devil incarnate.

Today, though, there had been no sign of her, and Helen took the opportunity to check out the anomaly site. As she drew closer, she wondered why April hadn't made an appearance yet. The last time Helen had gotten this far in, April was too distracted by a roving male to notice.

The anomaly was open, but as Helen drew closer, she saw tracks of a gorgonopsid exactly April's size. She hurried through the anomaly, hoping that it wasn't to late.


	6. Chapter 3: OSSA

**Chapter 3: OSSA**

_Forest of Dean, 2007 (a little bit later)_

Connor was ecstatic. "It looks like a dinosaur, it behaves like a dinosaur. It's a dinosaur! It's a missing link to the ancient past."

"But where did it come from?" Claudia asked. "It must have come from somewhere."

Connor agreed. "Dinosaurs don't turn up from nowhere in the middle of the forest."

Madge thought for a second. "Do you think it'll go back home if we scare it, or something?"

Cutter nodded. "Let's see where it thinks it's safe."

They goaded the animal to start running and the creature bounded off through the forest. They followed it, until it disappeared through a glowing, flickering ball of light.

"Where's it gone?" Claudia asked.

Cutter stared in awe at the place where the dinosaur had disappeared.

"Home."

...

_Anomaly site_

Soldiers had arrived to the anomaly site. They were setting up equipment, and Connor was taking notes. The pen in his hand was being pulled toward the anomaly.

"My pen," he said, surprised.

The team watched as the metal pen disappeared through the anomaly.

"I wonder…" Cutter mused. "Does anyone have a compass?"

Madge pulled out a mini compass, and handed it to Cutter. The needle went wild, pointing all directions.

"It's producing a magnetic field," Connor said, surprised.

"What could cause a magnetic field so powerful?" Cutter asked.

"Maybe it's an alien spaceship." Connor said jokingly.

Madge disagreed. "It can't be a spaceship. It has no mass-" She paused. "You were joking, weren't you?"

"A bit." Connor said.

Cutter started walking around it. "Everything we've seen about these animals so far is consistent with animals that last appeared in the fossil record many hundreds of millions of years ago."

Claudia tried to understand. "You mean they're like creatures from the past?"

"No. I mean they _are_ creatures from the past."

Claudia looked at her watch. "Cutter, we have to go now."

"You have your own experts."

"But they didn't see what we saw." Claudia said. "And they don't know what you know." She walked away, and Cutter looked back at the phenomena that had attracted so much attention.

_Could Helen have know about this? _He thought. _Maybe her theories weren't so crazy after all. But why didn't she…?_ Then he shook his head. He turned, and followed Claudia to the car.

Connor watched him walk away. Madge edged closer to him. He looked concerned, worried, even.

"Something on your mind?" She asked.

"It's nothing, just…"

"Just… what?" Madge asked.

"Helen Cutter disappeared in the Forest of Dean eight years ago. I didn't know her, just by reputation. But Cutter told me that she had some crazy theories right before she disappeared."

"What kind of theories?"

Connor shrugged. "He never said, and I wasn't going to ask him."

"Do you think she was on to this…" Madge searched for a word. "What do we even call it?"

Connor shrugged. "I don't know."

"Do you think they'll find the gorgonopsid?"

"I don't _know_." He wrote down a few more notes. "Maybe it already went back through."

"…Do you really think this is a gateway into the earth's past?"

"That's what Cutter seems to think."

"What do you think?"

Connor thought a moment. Finally he said, "I think it's an alien spaceship."

Madge glared at him. "I told you, it doesn't have enough mass to be a spaceship."

They both held a straight face for as long as they could, until they both broke down laughing.

When they finally calmed down, Madge said, "I think I'm going to like you, Connor Temple."

Connor smiled. "I think I already like you, Madge."

Madge blushed, and looked down. She knelt to get a better look. "Hey, Connor, look at this."

Connor moved closer to see what she was pointing at. "What is it?"

"Does that look like a shoe print?"

"It probably is. People have been walking all over here all night."

"But it's a sneaker. And the tracks lead _away_ from that… thing."

...

_Home Office_

Claudia stood in an anemic office in London, waiting for Cutter to sign the confidentiality agreement. A man in an expensive Italian suit walked up next to her. It took her a moment to realize he was standing there.

"Claudia Brown, home office." She reached to shake his hand.

He didn't even try to shake hands. "Yes," he said. "I've seen your file. James Lester. I'll be in charge of coordinating our response."

He looked at Nick Cutter critically. "You shouldn't have brought them don't have any security clearance I don't like civilians in these type of situations."

"How many situations like this have you had?" Claudia asked. _And how many times were we the ones who didn't know?_

"How do we know that he's not responsible for all this in some way?"

Claudia crossed her arms and shook her head. "That's not possible."

"You spend your entire career planning for every crisis imaginable, up to and including alien invasion, then this happens."

He leaned closer to her and said quietly, "So much for thinking outside the bloody box."


	7. Chapter 4: Hunter, Hunted

_The Forest of Dean_

Whatever tracks the gorganopsid left when it came through the anomaly were trampled by the soldiers, and the forest was huge. And the creature had been at large for several hours.

Connor started to get a little anxious. He hadn't been able to get a hold of Cutter in a few hours, and they didn't know how much longer the anomaly was going to stay open. Finally he decided to join the search.

"Madge, stay here. I'm going after it," he said.

"I'm coming with you." Madge told him.

Connor shook his head. "I can't look for the creature and look after you at the same time. You'll be safer here anyways."

"Not if another one of those things comes through." She said. "Please, Connor. I know the Forest of Dean pretty well."

He didn't like it, but Madge wasn't going to take no for an answer. "Fine. But be careful. We don't know what else might've come through."

As a last ditch effort, Connor sent a text to Cutter.

_I tried calling you. Madge and I got tired of waiting and we're going to help look for the creature. _

...

_Whitehall_

"This… phenomenon, Professor. Claudia tells me that you have an explanation."

"A theory." Cutter corrected. "The creatures must have come through the anomaly, and the scutosaurus went back through, which tells us that there is a concrete landscape on the other side of the anomaly. And I think it's the Earth, many millions of years ago."

"And this, anomaly, as you call it, is a door between time zones in the Earth's history?"

Cutter nodded in agreement.

"Suppose this- remarkable theory is correct," Lester suggested. "What are the immediate risks?"

"Famine." He said. "War, pestilence. The ends of the world as we know it- you know, the usual stuff." Cutter looked pretty entertained by his sarcastic answer.

Lester was far less amused than Cutter was. "I think I could do without the facetiousness."

"Well, I could do without standing in some anemic office in Whitehall, talking to a civil service pen pusher when I should be exploring the most significant phenomenon in the history of science."

"Technically, I'm not actually a civil servant." Lester corrected. "More of a troubleshooter without portfolio in the PM's office."

"You mean you're a government hatchet man." _Which means you're paid very highly to make problems like this go away. _Cutter thought.

"Colorful, but surprisingly accurate."

"Then there's something else you should know. I intend to find out what happened to my wife, whatever the risks. So I'm going through that anomaly, and if you want to stop me, you're going to have to shoot me."

Lester chuckled. "I hope it won't come to that."

...

_The Forest of Dean_

"Do you see anything?" Connor asked.

"No." Madge said. "What exactly are were looking for?"

"Tracks, feces, broken foliage," he said. "Leftovers." He added.

Madge nodded, and felt a little bit sick at the thought of 'leftovers'. "Thanks for the image, Connor."

"Basically anything that tells us that a creature passed through here."

Madge spotted something, and bent over to get a better look. "How about another shoe print?"

"That's not exactly what I meant, Madge." Connor said, but came over to look anyway.

"Look," she said, pointing at some of the more distinctive treads. "It's exactly the same as the one back at the site."

"I could just be a coincidence." Connor said. "There's got to be hikers in this forest all the time."

Madge looked up, and saw something under some brush up ahead. "Connor, look."

He did. "Is that a footprint?" They two of them went over the look at it.

"And that's not all." Connor said. "There's more shoe prints, and they're following the gorgonopsid."

...

_Whitehall_

Cutter's phone buzzed. He took the phone out of his pocket and checked his messages. He frowned as he read the text, and dialed his voice mail.

"I'm sorry, are we interrupting you?" Lester asked. "Is there something more important than a gaping whole through time and space in the middle of the Forest of Dean?"

"It's from Connor and Madge." Cutter said. "They've gone after the creature. They think it's a gorgonopsid."

"A gorgon-what?" Claudia asked.

"A gorgonopsid. It was the top predator of the permian era. I need to go and help them." Cutter started dialing Connor's number.

"But what about the anomaly?" Lester asked.

"It's going to have to wait." Cutter said. "He's not answering. Claudia, I'm going to need a ride back to the forest."

Claudia nodded. "I'll get my keys."

Cutter went to follow her, but Lester stopped him. "Don't try to go through the anomaly until we've filled out the proper paperwork." He warned Cutter.

"What, like a, an time travel passport?" Cutter asked sarcastically.

"Something along those lines, yes."

"You'll excuse me if I'm just a little bit more concerned about my students right now than exploring the anomaly." Cutter followed after Claudia.

...

_The Forest of Dean_

"Did you try calling Cutter again?" Madge asked.

"I can't. There's no signal on my phone."

Madge checked her own phone. "Nor mine. There's more tracks, though. We've got to be getting closer." After a moment. she said, "Connor, one question. After we find it, how do we get it back through the anomaly?"

Connor hesitated. "I'll think of something."

"You'll what?" Madge sounded concerned.

"I said I'll think of something." He said. "I hadn't really thought that far ahead."

"When you said that you were going to look for it, I thought you had some kind of plan."

"Well you didn't have to come along." He pointed out.

"And what if something had happened to you?" Madge asked. "What if you fell and got knocked unconscious?"

Connor didn't answer, but he stopped walking. Madge stopped too.

"Connor-"

Connor shushed her. "I think there's something watching us."

Madge looked around. "I don't see anything."

"I heard something."

Something behind them got closer. That time, Madge heard it too. Slowly, they looked at each other, and then looked behind them.

Connor stared, open-mouthed. "But that's impossible." He finally said.

"Connor, who is that?" Madge asked.

The woman answered. "My name is Helen Cutter. I've… been away. Not _really_ sure how long."


	8. Chapter 5: April

"Helen?" Connor asked. "Helen Cutter?"

Helen nodded slowly. "That's what I just said, isn't it?"

"Sorry." Madge said. "It's just that you've been missing for eight years."

"Eight-" She was taken aback. "I knew I've been gone a while, but..."  
Her sentence trailed off.

"No offense, Helen," Connor said. "But we've got bigger problems right now."

"Right." She said. "April. I've been tracking her since I got back."

"April?" Madge asked.

"When you it's just you, and a bunch of creatures in the permian, believe me, you start naming things." Helen said. "Creatures included."

"So where's it gone?" Connor asked.

Helen looked around and at the tracks. She pointed toward a clearing.

"That way."

Connor squinted the direction she pointed.

"Is it just me," He asked. "Or does that look like a school to anybody else?"

The three exchanged looks, and raced off in the direction of the tracks leading to the school.

Cutter slammed the door to the car and headed toward the anomaly site.

"Which way did they go?" Cutter demanded.

"That way, sir."

"When did they leave?"

"About three hours ago."

"Where's the creature?" Claudia asked.

"We don't know, ma'am."

"Perfect." Cutter fumed. "So for all we know, they could be out there, in the forest, on their own, injured. Or worse."

"We'll find them, Cutter." Claudia assured him.

"Why didn't they just stay here?" Cutter tried calling Connor's phone again. Madge picked up.

"Hello? Cutter, is that you?" Madge asked, slightly hysterical.

"Madge?" He asked. "Where are you? Is Connor with you?"

"Yeah, he's here." Madge said. She started speaking really fast and excitedly. "We're fine, but Connor got knocked on the head and he's unconscious. The gorgonopsid was here, but I think it's on it's way back to the anomaly-"

"Madge." Cutter said firmly, and she stopped talking. "Just take a breath. Now, tell me where you are so that someone can come and get you."

"We're at a school, just outside the Forest of Dean. No one was hurt... 'cept Connor."

"How's he doing?"

Madge was silent for a moment as she checked on him. "Still out, but alive."

"Okay, just stay there. We'll send someone to come and get you." Cutter turned to Claudia. "How many school near the Forest of Dean are there?"

Claudia gave a weird look. "I'll look into it."

"Cutter?" Madge asked. "Cutter, are you still there?"

"Yeah, I'm here."

"There's one other thing you should know."

"Helen." Cutter said.

Madge was shocked. "Yeah, she's back. How did you know?"

"Because I'm looking at her."

Helen Cutter came running up to them. "It's right behind me." She gasped.

Just as she said, the gorgonopsid came bounding behind her. The soldiers started shooting at it.

"No!" Nick shouted. "Stop shooting!"

Helen ran over the one of the trucks and turned the keys in the ignition, but the engine sputtered and died. The Gorgonopsid got closer to the soldiers. Nick and Claudia turned to run, but Claudia tripped.

"Cutter!" She cried.

He turned back to help Claudia back to her feet, but the gorgonopsid was on top of them in an instant.

Helen tried turning the engine again, and it finally roared to life. She quickly shifted gears, and rammed into of the side of the creature. It fell, injured.

Cutter helped Claudia to her feet, but couldn't take his eyes off of his wife. She left the door open, and smiled at him.

"Hello Nick." She said.

They took a few steps towards each other, but the creature started to get up. Helen got back into the truck, and blasted the horn.

Tired, injured and annoyed, the gorgonopsid opted to limp back through the anomaly, before the anomaly finally closed behind it.

The team, plus Helen, gathered in an office in Whitehall.

"How's your head?" Nick asked Connor.

"Still hurts a bit." Connor shrugged. "I dunno. Might've knocked some sense into me."

Nick smiled. "Here's hoping."

Lester and Claudia approached the group.

"So that's it then." Lester said. "Helen is officially undead, so to speak. All the animals are back where they belong, the anomaly is closed. A few cover stories have to be invented and people have to kept quiet, but at least the immediate crisis is over."

"Some...force," Nick said, "Out there, ripped the boundaries space and time to shreds.

"Maybe it's happened before. In which case, everything we thought we knew about the universe is wrong. Or this is the first time, in which case what changed? What happens next? Believe me, this is very, very far from over."


End file.
